Multigrade lubricating oils typically are identified by two numbers such as 10W30, 5W30 etc. The first number in the multigrade designation is associated with a maximum low temperature (e.g., -20.degree. C.) viscosity requirement for that multigrade oil as measured typically by a cold cranking simulator (CCS) under high shear, while the second number in the multigrade designation is associated with a minimum high temperature (e.g. 100.degree. C.) viscosity requirement. Thus, each particular multigrade oil must simultaneously meet both strict low and high temperature viscosity requirements in order to qualify for a given multigrade oil designation. Such requirements are set e.g., by ASTM specifications. By "low temperature" as used herein is meant temperatures of typically from about -30.degree. to about -5.degree. C. By "high temperature" as used herein is meant temperatures of at least about 100.degree. C.
The minimum high temperature viscosity requirement, e.g. at 100.degree. C., is intended to prevent the oil from thinning out too much during engine operation which can lead to excessive wear and increased oil consumption. The maximum low temperature viscosity requirement is intended to facilitate engine starting in cold weather and to ensure pumpability, i.e., the cold oil should readily flow or slump into the well for the oil pump, otherwise the engine can be damaged due to insufficient lubrication.
In formulating an oil which meets both low and high temperature viscosity requirements, use may be made of a single oil of desired viscosity or a blend of two or more lubricating oils of difference viscosities, in conjunction with manipulating the identity and amount of additives that must be present to achieve the overall target properties of a particular multigrade oil including its viscosity requirements.
The natural viscosity characteristic of a lubricating oil is typically expressed by the neutral number of the oil (e.g. S150N) with a higher neutral number being associated with a higher natural viscosity at a given temperature. In some instances the formulator will find it desirable to blend oils of two different neutral numbers, and hence viscosities, to achieve an oil having a viscosity intermediate between the viscosity of the components of the oil blend. Thus, the neutral number designation provides the formulator with a simple way to achieve a desired base oil of predictable viscosity. Unfortunately, merely blending oils of different viscosity characteristics does not enable the formulator to meet the low and high temperature viscosity requirements of multigrade oils. The formulators primary tool for achieving this goal is an additive conventionally referred to as viscosity index improver (i.e., V.I. improver).
The V.I. improver is conventionally an oil-soluble long chain polymer. The large size of these polymers enables them to significantly increase kinematic viscosities of base oils even at low concentrations. However, because solutions of high polymers are non-Newtonian they tend to give lower viscosities that expected in a high shear environment due to the alignment of the polymer. Consequently, V.I. improvers impact (i.e., increase) the low temperature (high shear) viscosities (i.e. CCS viscosity) of the base oil to a lesser extent than they do the high temperature (low shear) viscosities.
The aforesaid viscosity requirements for a multigrade oil can therefore be viewed as being increasingly antagonistic at increasingly higher levels of V.I. improver. For example, if a large quantity of V.I. improver is used in order to obtain high viscosity at high temperatures, the oil may now exceed the low temperature requirement. In another example, the formulator may be able to readily meet the requirement for a 10W30 oil but not a 5W30 oil, with a particular ad-pack (additive package) and base oil. Under these circumstances the formulator may attempt to lower the viscosity of the base oil, such as by increasing the proportion of low viscosity oil in a blend, to compensate for the low temperature viscosity increase induced by the V.I. improver, in order to meet the desired low and high temperature viscosity requirements. However, increasing the proportion of low viscosity oils in a blend can in turn lead to a new set of limitations on the formulator, as lower viscosity base oils are considerably less desirable in diesel engine use than the heavier, more viscous oils.
Further complicating the formulators task is the effect that dispersant additives can have on the viscosity characteristics of multigrade oils. Dispersants are frequently present in quality oils such as multigrade oils, together with the V.I. improver. The primary function of a dispersant is to maintain oil insolubles, resulting from oxidation during use, in suspension in the oil thus preventing sludge flocculation and precipitation. Consequently, the amount of dispersant employed is dictated and controlled by the effectiveness of the material for achieving its dispersant function. A high quality 10W30 commercial oil might contain from two to four times as much dispersant as V.I. improver (as measured by the respective dispersant and V.I. improver active ingredients). In addition to dispersancy, conventional dispersants can also increase the low and high temperature viscosity characteristics of a base oil simply by virtue of their polymeric nature. In contrast to the V.I. improver, the dispersant molecule is much smaller. Consequently, the dispersant is much less shear sensitive, thereby contributing more to the low temperature CCS viscosity (relative to its contribution to the high temperature viscosity of the base oil) than a V.I. improver. Moreover, the smaller dispersant molecule contributes much less to the high temperature viscosity of the base oil than the V.I. improver. Thus, the magnitude of the low temperature viscosity increase induced by the dispersant can exceed the low temperature viscosity increase induced by the V.I. improver without the benefit of a proportionately greater increase in high temperature viscosity as obtained from a V.I. improver.
Consequently, as the dispersant induced low temperature viscosity increase causes the low temperature viscosity of the oil to approach the maximum low temperature viscosity limit, the more difficult it is to introduce a sufficient amount of V.I. improver effective to meet the high temperature viscosity requirement and still meet the low temperature viscosity requirement. The formulator is thereby once again forced to shift to the undesirable expedient of using higher proportions of low viscosity oil to permit addition of the requisite amount of V.I. improver with out exceeding the low temperature viscosity limit.